To illustrate how trying to use computers has driven people to frustration, Gershenfeld recounts the case of a man so exasperated with his PC that he shot it three times. Proposing a less-violent but perhaps no-less-radical solution to the problem, Gershenfeld advocates redesigning computers so that they truly cater to our needs. As head of MIT's Media Lab, he has already made dramatic steps in effecting this revolutionary turnabout -- designing computers that fit in shoes, jackets, or earrings, for example. He and his colleagues will soon give us a new generation of computers that almost disappear from view but which do more than ever beore, tracking financial transactions instantaneously, mimicking the brain's powers of thought, and turning molecules into quantum calculators. Though primarily concerned with the technical challenges involved in creating these new devices, Gershenfeld does weigh the philosophical and political issues: What about privacy and autonomy? Will machines ever truly think or acquire consciousness? A book of compelling interest to anyone curious about where technology will take us in the next millenium.

-- Bryce Christensen